PR Publications Blog

Categories of Classic Fonts July 14, 2009

When most people think of fonts, many names come to mind. Names like Ariel, Times New Roman, Jokerman, Franklin Gothic are just some of the easily reconizable font names. Although there are many names they all fall under a certain category. In Strategic Publications Designing for Target Publics they use four font categories with severl subcategories of each. The four categories are: serif fonts, sans serif fonts, handformed and specialized. Serif fonts and sans serif fonts make up the classic types of fonts.

Serif Fonts:

Serif fonts have serifs that form horizontal lines to guide readers’ eyes across lines of text. A Serif font is a letter that has little wiggles or curly-q’s at the end of its stroke. They are best for large areas of text and for body text. Serif fonts are easily to distinguish so they are easy to read. The size and shape of serif fonts distinguish subcategories. Roman fonts make up most of the serif fonts. They have serifs that taper at the end and form horizontal lines across row of text. There are easly and modern Roman fonts. Other subcategories are sharp serif fonts, round serif fonts, and square serif fonts.

Sans Serif fonts:

Sans serif fonts have no serifs and are more potent than serif fonts. You want to use serif fonts for clean designs. There legibility is due to their unadorned designs. The design of sans serif fonts appear more modern and they are best in smaller and larger sizes. They are frequently used for headings because they are most readable in larger sizes. They can also be used for smaller sizes but they are better for display than body text. They have two subcategories: gothic fonts and monoline fonts.